


Across the Universe

by LakeYarina



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Barisi Pride 2020, Chance Meetings, Childhood, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Fluffy Ending, Growing Up Together, I promise, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24547051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LakeYarina/pseuds/LakeYarina
Summary: “Well the universe wants what it wants, I always had a feeling I would see you again eventually.”-an AU in which Sonny and Rafael meet and lose contact twice as kids before meeting again as adults.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57
Collections: Barisi Pride 2020





	Across the Universe

**Author's Note:**

> so for obvious reasons i had to warp their ages for this to work, and what I settled on was both of them being born in/around 1975. suspension of disbelief y'all, we got this!
> 
> tw for implied child and domestic abuse re: rafael's childhood, but nothing too graphic!
> 
> Barisi Pride Challenge Prompts - Blue + Lifetime Bond

_May 28th, 1982 - Bronx Park East, New York_

The late May sun shone down on the playground crowded with the regular after-school crowd, kids chasing each other through play structures and arguing over who’s turn it was on the swings. Not interested in the hustle and bustle, or really interacting with anyone at all, was Rafael. The seven-year-old sat cross-legged in the sandbox, perfectly content to be digging holes and building lopsided sand-castles without anyone bugging him. At least he was content until he heard footsteps running towards him, dropping his shovel and snapping his head up. He was expecting his father, but was met with a blonde boy who he assumed was the same age as him, wearing a haphazard blue button-up shirt and grass-stained khakis. Rafael forced a smile and went back to what he was doing, starting to get annoyed when the other boy didn’t leave.

“Can I play with you? He said after a moment, sounding just a little too excited for Rafael’s comfort level. He looked back up, pursing his lips. 

“I like playing by myself,” Rafael said, feeling a little bad when he saw the other boy’s face fall. It wasn’t personal after all, he just wanted to be alone. The other boy still didn’t leave though, tilting his head. “Are you sure? You look lonely.” He said, stepping into the sandbox when Rafael didn’t give him a response. “We can play without talking. That’s what my mom makes me and my sisters do when we’re too loud!” He continued and sat down, Rafael huffing. This kid really wasn’t going to take a hint, was he?

“What’s your name? My name’s Sonny, well it’s really Dominick cause that’s my dad’s name too but no one calls me that except when I’m in trouble.” 

In spite of how badly Rafael wanted to ask why the other boy was continuing to talk after he said he would be quiet, he settled on sharing his name.

“Rafael,” He said quietly, not offering anything more or even looking up.

“That’s a cool name. I’m from Staten Island but my mom’s best friend lives here so we come see her sometimes. Do you live here?”

Rafael was about to throw back a snarky response along the lines of _”duh!"_ but when he looked up he saw his father coming, jumping up and letting the sandbox toys fall from his hands. Sonny gave him a confused look, and he desperately wanted to get away quickly so the other boy wasn’t subjected to the elder Barba’s wrath like he knew he was going to be. 

“My dad is calling me, I gotta go.” He rushed out and Sonny frowned, Rafael hanging back for a moment since he knew he wasn’t going to be allowed to leave with the last word. “Oh, well I hope I see you the next time I’m here,” Sonny said and Rafael ran off the second he was done. And while he hated to admit it, he hoped he would see Sonny again too, a thought which he used to distract himself when his father roughly grabbed him by the arm, mumbling something about Rafael being in trouble when they got home as they walked down the sidewalk back to their apartment.

But things didn’t pan out as he had wishfully hoped they would. Six months by without seeing Sonny again before Rafael convinced his parents to take him to a different playground, the other one just starting to make him feel like he was waiting for someone who wasn’t coming. It wasn’t as if he had no way of knowing that he was missing Sonny by mere hours, and that the other boy felt the same heaviness he did with each passing time that he didn’t see him.  
-  
_July 27th, 1988 - Bronx, New York_

“Don’t hurt her, please!”

Rafael’s yelling did nothing to stop the elder Barba’s fit of rage, which had rapidly gone from being directed at the wall to being directed at his wife. Lucia blocked Mr. Barba with her arm for just long enough to meet eyes with the twelve-year-old. “Go outside mijo, I’ll come to get you.” She said, Rafael staying frozen in place. 

This was far from the first incident, but the older he got the more he hated leaving her alone. He finally moved when his father snapped his head around and barked at him to go outside, slamming their door behind him as he ran down the stairs in tears. Ducking into the alley next to their building he sniffled, taking a minute to calm himself down before deciding to walk to the corner and back. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked with his head down until a voice that sounded vaguely familiar pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Rafael?” He heard and turned, staring at the source for a moment before the pieces in his head started to click as to who the blonde tween staring at him with his mouth hanging open was. Before Rafael could say anything the other boy was running towards him. “It is you!” He said loudly when he got closer, and Rafael flinched. If Sonny noticed he didn’t say anything, though he did frown after fully taking in the other boy’s appearance of a long-sleeved shirt and pants in the middle of July paired with red-rimmed eyes. 

“Are you okay? You look like you were crying.” He said, reaching out a hand to touch his arm and looking concerned when Rafael took a step back. “My dad hit my mom.” Rafael said, realizing this was the first time he had said anything like that out loud to another person. But for some reason, the fact that he barely knew Sonny didn’t scare him. Sonny made him feel safe, and while he didn’t really believe in God he felt like some sort of guardian angel. 

After Rafael’s confession, he just looked horrified. “We’re at someone’s apartment a few blocks away, I just took a walk cause I got bored. If you come back with me we can call the police and-”

“No!” Rafael cut him off, not wanting to relive the way their upstairs neighbors calling the police had created a hellscape in their tiny apartment. The officers they sent came and left without doing a thing, but their brief visit alone made his father angrier than Rafael had _ever_ seen him.

Sonny looked like he was about to try convincing him anyway, but before he could Rafael heard the door to their building open, Lucia poking his head out. 

“You need to come back in now Rafi.” She called out and forced a smile at the other boy, who pulled a pen out his pocket and motioned for Rafael to hold his arm out and roll his sleeve up. He did so hesitantly, Sonny writing a phone number on his skin and slowly rolling his sleeve back down for him. Rafael knew he saw the blue bruises around his wrist from how gentle he was being, but he was glad he didn’t mention them outright. “That’s our phone number. If one of my sisters answers just tell them you’re calling for me.” Sonny said and Rafael nodded before turning to follow Lucia inside. Grateful for his dad having apparently needed a shower after his anger fit, he went right into his room and wrote the number on his arm on a piece of paper, vowing to call Sonny from the payphone down the street the next day.  
-  
_November 15th, 2003 - Stonewall Inn, New York_  


Rafael stood against the wall like he did most nights he wound up at Stonewall. More often than not he eventually got approached by someone, and he was more than happy to not take the lead in that regard. But tonight just seemed to be unlucky. As more singles started to pair off he decided to head home, walking towards the door. But he stopped short when he saw a certain lanky blonde walking through the door alone. 

Swallowing back the knowledge that what he was about to do would be humiliating if this wasn’t Sonny, he chugged the rest of his glass and pushed through the crowd, gently touching the tall man who was making his way to the bar on the shoulder from behind. Sonny turned and looked like he was about to tell him off, Rafael internally cringing at the realization that he would probably react the same to being touched from behind in the dark. But before he could rush out an apology and leave, Sonny’s eyes lit up, and Rafael knew his intuition was right. “You were supposed to call me!” Sonny yelled over the music, pulling him into a hug. Rafael hugged him back, the other man beaming as he pulled away. “I’m sorry,” Rafael started, and suddenly wished they were having this emotional reunion without Brittany Spears blasting so hard it made the floor vibrate. “I almost did so many times but I chickened out, and then I lost the paper with your number on it.” He said and Sonny gave a playful shrug. 

“Well the universe wants what it wants, I always had a feeling I would see you again eventually,” Sonny said, turning back around when the bartender asked if he was still planning on ordering anything. “You want another drink?” He titled his head back to ask motioning to Rafael’s empty glass. 

“Uh sure. An Old-Fashioned is fine.” He said and Sonny turned back to order, giving Rafael a full view of the way the other man’s jeans were hugging his ass. Distracted, he didn’t notice that Sonny was turning back around with their drinks until he heard him chuckling, definitely having noticed where Rafael’s eyes were directed 

“You wanna go upstairs? I think it’ll be quieter up there.” Sonny asked with a small smirk and Rafael nodded, still embarrassed about being caught staring as he followed him up the stairs. They sat down at the bar, Sonny scooting his bar stool so it was a little closer as he leaned on one of his arms to look at Rafael. 

Rafael raised an eyebrow, Sonny not redirecting his gaze. “I can stare too ya know.” He remarked and Rafael flushed red, taking a sip from his drink.

“So anyway, did things ever get better with your folks?” Sonny continued, Rafael nearly choking on his drink. Sonny, to his credit, looked like he regretted his question until Rafael laughed, shaking his head. “I see you never stopped being...the way that you are.” He started and made a mental note of how cute Sonny looked like he furrowed his eyebrows. “But no. My mom left him eventually and he kinda fell off the face of the earth. Somehow caught up enough to send me a card when I graduated from Harvard Law, but I threw it away without reading it.” Rafael continued, Sonny sitting up a little straighter. “Harvard Law? That’s great!” He exclaimed and raised his glass, Rafael rolling his eyes. “Enough about me, what have you been doing for the past sixteen years?”

“Well I went to the police academy and now I’m-” He started, Rafael putting a hand up to stop him. “Forgive me if this is too blunt, but I have to say I did not think Stonewall was where cops came to wind down.” He said as he took another sip from his drink, looking around at their surroundings with a sarcastic expression. 

It was Sonny’s turn to roll his eyes then, Rafael only tilting his head in bemusement. “My entire life is one long cognitive dissonance episode. I’m also Catholic if you couldn’t tell.”

“Oh, I definitely could.” Rafael quipped back and he laughed, Rafael joining him. While this wasn’t the first time he had shared laughs with someone over within the walls of a bar, this felt different. Sonny wasn’t just some random twink from the Upper East-Side that Rafael would never see again after tonight. And he was grateful for the technology that would more or less guarantee they wouldn’t fall out of contact like they had before. 

“Anyways like I was saying, I’m a Staten Island patrol cop right now. But I’d ideally like to work here in Manhattan someday, ideally with Special Victims Unit.”

What Sonny didn’t say was that watching Rafael skittishly go back into his apartment with his mother that hot July day when they were twelve was what first made him interested in the work the Special Victims Unit did. But he could tell him that another time, which he was set on making sure they actually had this century.

“To someday.” Rafael said and raised his glass with a smile, Sonny clinking his own against it. If Rafael saw the other man’s blue eyes starting to water he didn’t mention it. Afterall, it would make him a hypocrite to knock Sonny when deep inside he felt the same overwhelming emotions.  
-  
_June 4th, 2020 - Washington Heights, New York_  


“Uncle Sonny can you tell us another story before we go to bed pleaseeee.” Noah said, standing on the air mattress next to Jesse, who earned herself a glare from him when she yawned. Sonny laughed, turning to his husband. “What do you think Raf, one more?” He said and Rafael pretended to think on it, Noah looking at him impatiently. This was more or less routine for Noah and Jesse’s monthly sleepovers at their apartment, right down to the kids standing on the air mattress. Rafael had warned them a million times not to, but after so long it became futile and if the damn thing broke well, it was meant to happen. 

They also had a perfectly good guest bed, but ever since Noah went to an outdoor summer camp upstate he had been fixated on camping by any means possible, and putting an air mattress in their living room was as close as Rafael would ever get to camping no matter how much he loved Noah like his own child. “One more,” He started and the kids cheered, deflating almost in sync when Rafael held up a hand. “If you both get under the blankets and promise to go right to sleep.” He said and they, for once, listened to him, getting under the blanket, which had actually been a gift from the kids from last Christmas. It was a blue-tinted photo-blanket, screen printed with pictures of them with Noah and Jesse throughout the years. Cheesy as it was, it made Rafael cry when he opened it, something that Olivia had adamantly decided she was never going to let go as long as they were alive.

Jesse whispered something in Noah’s ear that he reacted to with a nod, rolling over on the mattress to face Sonny on the couch.

“You should tell us the story of how you guys met and fell in loveeee.” He said and Sonny raised an eyebrow. 

“Again? You’ve heard that story a million times!” Sonny said playfully and feigned shock, in spite of the fact that was more often than that the story they asked for. Noah and Jesse nodded, Sonny leaned forward from where he was sitting and kissing Rafael’s cheek, which made both kids squeal. 

“Don’t kiss, tell us the story!” Jesse sat up and yelled. Sonny stuck his tongue out at her playfully, the little girl giggling as she laid back down. 

Sonny started the story from the very beginning at the playground in the Bronx, Rafael jumping in like he always did to say that Sonny was lucky he didn’t catch him in a bad mood and get snapped at for talking at him right after he had insisted they could play in silence. He also took over to give a more kid-friendly version of the story from when they were twelve, and the one from their 2003 reunion, which stopped being Noah and Jesse-friendly fairly quickly. He passed it back to Sonny to explain that they hid the fact that they were in a relationship from the squad when they started working together, until none other than Jesse’s mom cornered him, laying into him about needing to stop flirting with their ADA who had a ring on his finger already. While her heart was in the right place, Sonny felt bad letting her go on and on without eventually interjecting to tell her they were engaged, and that the ring on Rafael’s finger was from him. By the time the story got to their wedding both of the kids were asleep, Rafael cutting Sonny off mid-story to kiss him. 

“You don’t need to keep going, I know how the story ends,” He whispered as he pulled back, Sonny humming as he got up off the couch as quietly as he could, Rafael giving him a helpless look to con him into helping him to his feet. “It’ll never get old to them, or me,” Sonny said as he pulled him up, smiling softly as they tiptoed back to their own room, stumbling into bed and falling asleep in each other’s arms, right where they were always meant to be.

**Author's Note:**

> i changed my a03 name (ChelseaMorning) but it's still ya girl. find me on twitter @fourdayshome and happy pride! stay safe out there!


End file.
